A much easier build than the tabletop version, but still quite a bit of work to document it all. I now have 2 or each kind :).
Gondola PlottyBot is born
A much easier build than the tabletop version, but still quite a bit of work to document it all. I now have 2 or each kind :).
Hi Ben,
Iām in the process of building the PlottyBot now ā but: I can’t find the software image gondola plottyBot image.
Hi Jan,
it’s in the instructions, in the “Downloads” section: https://ben.akrin.com/gondola-plottybot/#Downloads
Sorry, I can’t read that small print on the Raspberry Pi imager screen dumps, too small, too blurry. please can you help me?
I’ve just made them so you can click on them to open them bigger. Try to reload the page and you should be able to click on them. Sorry about that.
Thank you very much but now …
Sorry, here I am again; the PlottyBot SD card image link is not working. What is the address?
No problem, it works for me:
http://ben.akrin.com/downloads/gondola_plottybot_2023-01-31.img
do you get any sort of error?
Yes, it looks like he wants to open a site but in the end nothing happens. I’ve tried this before, see Roger’s comment.
I’m not sure what to say it works for me. I can click on it and it starts to download the image file. Could you possibly try another browser? Do you have a non-standard internet connection? (satellite, cellular). Do you have a way to try from another internet connection?
Hi Ben, I found the problem; GOOGLE’s security was too high. I temporarily disabled security and then everything worked.
Thanks for the support!
Ah yeah ok, that’s not too surprising coming from them, they are over zealous with this and making sure you get ads too.
Hi Ben, I have made a test setup (and checked the connections) to check if everything works. I want to test the stepper motors and the pen movement in the Mechanics sector but nothing works. Do I have to log in somewhere or something like that?
When I report (with the test setup in operation) that I know what I am doing, I sometimes succeed in executing penup and pendown (usually not) but I cannot get the stepper motors to move.
It’s difficult to speculate on what might be going wrong with what little information you offer, and it would have been wise to not pursue the rest of the instructions when the first stepper didn’t turn. Are you soldering everything or using Dupont connectors? All I can think of here is loose connections. Did you get the exact same drivers I listed for the Stepper motors?
Hi Ben,
After some back and forth with Amazon (subpar components) I was finally able to deploy my Gondola Plotty…
A couple of things I noticed – and hope I can fix with your help:
1: When booting, the left motor steadily moves to the upper left corner. I don’t think this is expected?
2: When testing, the right (bottom) motor pulls the gondola to the upper right corner – I think, that’s what I should expect.
Unfortunately, the left (bottom) motor lowers the carriage to the lower right corner. Both my motors are wired the same way, how can I fix this?!
…okay, sorry for that typo… I meant to type:
The right (bottom) […] and the left (top) […].
Hmm, seems I fixed both issues by (after powering down the PlottyBot) reversing the left motor cable…
Well, so much for that…
Now, on to reprinting everything in PETG as the PLA i initially chose is already warping due to the stepper driver’s heat…
I’m glad you figured it out, it sounded like a grounding issue or another miswiring.
Interestingly, I’ve used these drivers on PLA for hundreds or hours and didn’t experience heat issues, altough they do get toasty.
Out of curiosity, do you have a heatsink on them? Any chance you could send a picture of the warping? I’m curious to know how it affects the model.
Thank you!
Hi Ben,
I’m in the process of building the PlottyBot now – but: What’s the WIFI password!?
1234567890 š sorry it was missing in the instructions, fixing now.
Thanks!
Hi Ben,
Thanks for the instructions! I’m thinking of deploying one for myself, but am not sure what to do in terms of size.
So, could you give me some info about:
– Margins – Given the distance in your last picture, is the margin always a quarter of this distance, tying it to the plotters size?
Or is the margin always a specific width / height, which would make it independent from the plotters area?
– Accuracy – I’m thinking about making the plotter as big as I can on one wall in my office, also to use it to prepare flipcharts, etc. in advance. In order for this to work, the plotter would be roughly 2m x 2m in size, do you have any idea if the accuracy would be problematic here?
Hey Ryan,
the margins are defined as 20%, so not a fixed size. That’s what I landed on with various deployments so that’s the default, but it’s just 1 variable to adjust in the web interface. In my pictures, I think it’s set at 27% because my paper was smaller. Bottom line is you definitely want some margins on the edges, but you can play with the value, and weights on the plotter. What matters is that your belts stay straight and don’t sag. Extreme positions aren’t ideal for this hence the margin.
I don’t think you’ll have issues with accuracy at 2m, well, not from the motors at least but you’ll have to play with margins and weights. If the motors steps are too big (once again I don’t think they will be), I can help you enable microstepping.
Awesome, thanks for the info!
I’ll get to building next (which will take some time!) and get back to you afterwards š
Hit “Send” too early š I noticed that in the instructions, there are 2 different links – the one in the “Download” section pointing to this:
http://ben.akrin.com/downloads/plottybot_2021-04-22.img
And one in the instructions for the Raspi Imager pointing here: http://ben.akrin.com/downloads/gondola_plottybot_2023-01-30.img
I tried with the first image, and that one seems to work (but probably not the right version for the vertical plotter?). Second one doesn’t seem to do anything. I also noticed that they are very different in size, first link aroun 1.7GB, second link around 400MB. Could the image in the second link be corrupt?
I think you’re the first to go through the instructions š You’re a trail blazer. Thank you for pointing out the outdated links. I just updated them with the most recent one, could you please give it another try?
Yep, now it works, thanks a lot! I have no idea why people don’t go crazy over this – this is such a great idea!! š
Nice! Sorry for the trouble, definitely let me know if you run into more documentation oddities. There’s no way I got it all right right off the bat, it helps others to remove all the errors. Thanks for trail blazing :).
Awesome project! I started building it, but for some reason, the Raspberry Pi image does nothing for me. I flash it, plug the card into the Zero W, and nothing happens. The green LED flashes for a couple of seconds, then just stays solid indefinitely. Any idea what this could be? CHeers!